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500 Watt Eighth Brick DC-DC Converter Achieves 96.7% Efficiency – EPC Demonstration Board Featuring eGaN FETs Delivers Fully Regulated, Isolated Output 12 V, 42 A Output

500 Watt Eighth Brick DC-DC Converter Achieves 96.7% Efficiency – EPC Demonstration Board Featuring eGaN FETs Delivers Fully Regulated, Isolated Output 12 V, 42 A Output

EPC9115 DC-DC bus converter showcases superior performance achieved using eGaN FETS with designated drivers in a conventional fully regulated, isolated eighth brick DC-DC converter topology

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — March 2015 — Efficient Power Conversion Corporation (EPC) introduces the EPC9115, a demonstration design for a 12 V, 42 A output with an input range of 48 V to 60 V. The demonstration board features enhancement-mode (eGaN®) power transistors – the EPC2020 (60 V) and EPC2021 (80V) – along with the LM5113 half-bridge driver and UCC27611 low side driver from Texas Instruments. The power stage is a conventional hard-switched 300 kHz isolated buck converter.

Performance of a Quarter Brick in an Industry Standard Eighth Brick Format

The complete converter fits within a standard eighth-brick envelope, but the EPC9115 demonstration board is deliberately oversized to allow connections for bench evaluation. The design provides various probe points to facilitate simple waveform measurement and efficiency calculation.

The EPC9115 uses a full-bridge primary power stage, a 4:1 transformer, and a center-tapped output stage with active reset snubbers. Control is provided by a Microchip dsPIC® controller and basic voltage-mode control is implemented. Operating at 300 kHz, the EPC9115 switching frequency is 50% - 100% higher than similar commercial units.

Alex Lidow, EPC CEO and co-founder, notes, “With the introduction of the EPC9115, the industry has the performance of a 500 W DC-DC converter in the footprint of an industry standard eighth brick. This unprecedented power density is made possible with eGaN FETs.”

EPC9115 demonstration boards are priced at $812.50 each and are available for immediate delivery from Digi-Key at https://www.digikey.com/en/supplier-centers/epc

About EPC

EPC is the leader in enhancement mode gallium nitride based power management devices. EPC was the first to introduce enhancement-mode gallium-nitride-on-silicon (eGaN) FETs as power MOSFET replacements in applications such as DC-DC converters, wireless power transfer, envelope tracking, RF transmission, power inverters, remote sensing technology (LiDAR), and Class-D audio amplifiers with device performance many times greater than the best silicon power MOSFETs.